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July 30, 2007
Picking berries while Romy burns
Although I've occasionally scorned summer as my least-favorite season, that's not quite fair. It all depends on the weather, and summer can be very nice indeed when temperatures stay below about 85-90 Fahrenheit. Despite its charms and the seasonal bounty of Nature, summer's still my third-favorite time of year at best-- the transitional seasons of autumn and spring firmly occupy the #1 and #2 slots. Summer and winter will always jockey for those #3 and #4 positions, trading places as mood and climate shift from day to day, week to week.
I come from a berry-picking culture, growing up in Arctic and subarctic Alaska where summer is short but incredibly intense; at its peak the sun never sets, or barely dips below the horizon. Those endless Alaskan summer days nurture a frantic burst of plant growth, and the tundra becomes a veritable carpet of berries. In much the same way that the greatest wines are made from grapes whose vines are somewhat stressed, Alaska's brief and challenging summers impart a memorably intense flavor to the native fruits. Trust me: you haven't tasted the true, primal Essence of a blueberry unless you've sampled one from one of those eight-inch tundra blueberry plants.
In remote Alaska the berry season is a major topic of conversation, since the traditional subsistence lifestyle depended heavily on them for seasonal relief from a largely meat and fish diet. Since early childhood I've been fascinated by the magic of berries, and when an exceptionally good crop is encountered I'll happily spend many hours picking them-- hey, this is treasure free for the taking, folks!
The Willamette Valley is also noted for its berries, and although they don't quite match their Arctic counterparts in intensity, a few come close. Blackberries are especially rife in Oregon, and in a field just across the river from the Swamp Shack the most lush, ripe and rampant blackberry patch I've seen in years is now reaching its peak. Man, are they good! Here's this morning's casual harvest:
Blackberries
Gotta remember to slather on sunscreen beforehand, though: I get so intent on berrypicking that those harsh, burning solar rays of summer are forgotten. Hey, Autumn will be here berry, berry soon-- now there's a season. In the meantime, carpe diem. --r.
Posted by Romy
07:25 PM PST
July 27, 2007
Length vs. width
I'm working on a commissioned flute in walking-stick form, a D major about five and a half feet long. This customer wanted a very wide outer diameter-- in fact, he asked whether it could be as fat as a G alto staff displayed in our recent Oregon Country Fair booth.
That's quite a stretch; those two keys are a fifth apart. Although my flute bores generally tend to be narrower than many others in terms of their diameter-to-length ratio, they do get fatter in the alto and bass ranges. That is, my alto and bass flutes are much bigger-bored in proportion to their acoustical length than are the higher-pitched models-- and the lower they go, the wider this ratio becomes.
There are several rationales for that which we won't describe right now, but we'll revisit the subject soon.
Returning to that "fat" D major requested by our customer: since a G alto would naturally be much wider in its bore ratio than a D soprano, making a D instrument as fat as a G would be a fairly radical proposition. In fact, I just abandoned a prototype as impractical; it was simply wider than I was willing to venture acoustically for a D. Sent a note to the customer, explaining that he'd have to adjust his expectations somewhat-- I'll try to find a thick-walled chunk of bamboo in order to enable a wider overall diameter, but even with that consideration there's no way it'll be quite as chunky as a typical G alto.
There's much more to explore on the subject of bore-diameter issues, so more on that presently.
----r.
Posted by Romy
02:15 PM PST
July 24, 2007
Continuity
Yesterday's entry contained a promise to continue in a similar vein today, but a slight detour is in order. The recipient of a recently mailed D Major just wrote to remark that the flute seems to have a "quicker response" than most bamboo flutes, and he speculated that this might be due to its lacquered bore. My slightly-revised reply:
That's good to hear! Nope, I really don't think it's the lacquer in terms of response, although it might have a slight bit of influence on the tone. The major qualitative factors will always be how the bamboo was grown, and how the flute was made. An increasing number of these variables fall under my control with time and accrued flutemaking experience, but when dealing with bamboo there are inevitable and unpredictable intangibles as well.
Having played many flutes in both a lacquered and non-lacquered state, my opinion is that lacquering is greatly overrated in terms of its effect on tone and overall quality. All of my own best flutes are unlacquered, not that there's any reason they wouldn't be great lacquered as well-- it's just that when I make/discover a really great flute, I don't want to mess with the bore at that point because it's *right* just the way it is-- so why take the chance of somehow messing things up by lacquering it?
In fact, two or three prior customers have become convinced that their rb flutes would be further improved by lacquering and then gone ahead and done the job themselves, or had it done by someone else-- which they've invariably regretted after the fact. Just sayin'... glad you like the flute so far.
Well, that's it for today; we'll see what crops up tomorrow. --rb
Posted by Romy
06:43 PM PST
July 23, 2007
More on scales
Our recent description of a mixolydian-mode flute invites further discussion of unconventional scale possibilities, so let's begin by reviewing some basic concepts. Much of the following was originally hatched long ago on this site but now lies irrevocably entombed in our vast, mildewy archive-catacombs. I'm certainly not brave enough to venture down there, Fortunato-- so pour a nice glass of amontillado, pull up a chair, and let's start over.
Most of us have ten fingers, and so we could theoretically cover ten holes in a simple flute tube. If those ten holes were suitably positioned so that each would yield a specific note in the chromatic scale, only two of the twelve chromatic notes would remain unvoiced. As was pointed out in the preceding entry, the open bottom end of a flute acts as just another hole as well-- so between the finger-covered holes and the bottom end, eleven of the twelve chromatic tones are potentially available.
Eleven of the twelve? --Yep-- it's a cruel trick of Nature that we're one digit short of a chromatic scale without mechanical assistance such as the elaborate keywork found on modern woodwind instruments.
This is a mere theoretical example, of course-- most simple flutes have far fewer than ten fingerholes, with six being typical. Attempts to employ as many fingers as possible quickly become cumbersome as acoustical demands clash with ergonomic realities, and since half-hole fingerings and other tricks can be used to produce additional notes, there have been relatively few attempts to enslave every single digit in the pursuit of chromaticism.
However, my own favorite and most-played design is the nine-hole flute. This is nothing more than my "standard" seven-hole minor-key system with two additions: a right-hand little-finger hole for the minor second scale degree, and a right-hand thumbhole for the major third. On a couple of occasions I've experimentally added a left-hand little-finger hole for the augmented fourth/diminished fifth, but having all ten fingers tied down becomes a bit overwhelming. Freeing up just one finger makes the nine-hole system quite practical and fluent with practice.
However, such nine-holers are seldom offered to the public, and only a few other players currently own them. It's generally better to become familiarized with the seven-hole system first, after which the ambitious can graduate to additional holes. If just one hole is added to a seven-holer, it's the right-hand minor second. Such eight-hole flutes are relatively easy to handle, and I plan to make more of these in the near future for public consideration.
To be continued tomorrow... --rb
Posted by Romy
06:19 PM PST
July 21, 2007
Mixolydian miscellania
I've made several flutes in C# minor this year, which is more than usual. People often react with surprise when informed that a particular flute is in that key, as if it's strikingly far-out and bizarre. Setting aside the notion that nearly all of my instruments are far-out and bizarre, relatively speaking -- merely being made in minor keys attests to that -- nothing's especially weird or unusual about C# minor. After all, it's the relative minor of E major: a quite commonly played key, especially for guitarists.
The recent appearance of so many C# flutes is mere happenstance; several chunks of bamboo cropped up which didn't seem quite right for either a D or a C flute, so they were assigned to split the difference. As a matter of fact (what a long-winded setup) we have a particularly nice C# minor available right now! Add it to your collection today, before it slips away!
If memory serves, over the years I've made at least a few flutes in every single (minor) key except one: G#/Ab. Why, I don't know: been meaning to do so for quite a while, just for the academic exercise. It would also be useful to have that key in the quiver; it's the relative minor of B major, and the more the merrier. So be it: verily, in the next batch there shall appear a G# minor. It is written.
We'll be returning to an extended discussion of various flute scales and keys over the next few weeks, not all of which will necessarily appear here in the Journal. As has long been lamented here, the button departments above are woefully stale to say the least and badly in need of major updates. Will it finally happen this year? Perhaps... not, but definitely in all probability, unless precluded by unnatural disaster or acts of aliens.
I also recently rediscovered an unusual scale that merits more attention: a mixolydian flute. What this amounts to is a major/minor hybrid; essentially the right-hand fingerholes are major -- in the key of C the first four notes would be C, D, E, F -- while the left-hand holes are minor, and in C mixolydian would be G, A, and Bb. (Just to avoid confusion, remember that the bottom end of the flute is essentially just another "hole" and falls under the right hand's control. This is why on a six-hole flute four notes are assigned to the RH and only three to the LH.)
With this mixolydian arrangement the flute would play naturally in F Major, with the tonic falling on the fourth note from the bottom-- that is, with the three left-hand holes covered. Also, the simple addition of a left-hand thumbhole to voice the major seventh (B in this case) greatly increases the flute's versatility, making the key of C Major an easy blow as well.
This scheme is especially interesting because simple flutes in major scales tend to get "stretchy" sooner as their size increases-- which is one of the prime reasons I've historically favored the minors. The main problem is in the left hand, which with major scales must cover a span a half-step greater than it would on a minor-scale flute of the same size. This problem is neatly sidestepped with the mixolydian layout, since that problematic, stretchy major seventh is transferred to the thumb: unconventional but eminently practical, as is typical for my stuff.
Sheesh-- sent back to the minors again; story of my life. Anyway, expect further reports and an audio demo of the mixolydian flute soon, ere the harvest moon appears. (Again, unless precluded by unnatural disaster or acts of aliens.) --r.
Posted by Romy
10:43 AM PST
July 17, 2007
The Circle of Squash
I'm back... to write more about fresh vegetables! We'll get to some fresh flute stuff in a few days after I've recovered from the biggest, craziest show of the year. The last three weeks were a blur of frenzied flutistic mania and a short break from that is in order.
As for the Circle of Squash, our first homegrown summer squash of the season will be picked in another day or two, and what do you know: we still have one butternut winter squash from last fall's harvest, still in perfect condition! Thus, as was speculated in an earlier vegetable-obsessed entry it's quite possible in this climate to eat squash from one's own garden on any day of the year, even without preservation tactics such as freezing, pickling, drying or canning.
In fact, I'll make a ritual occasion of this and eat both the first summer squash and the last winter squash at the same meal. The Great Cucurbit Circle will be complete-- and it is hereby Proclaimed that each such day in years to come shall mark, and be duly celebrated as the culmination of, one Solar Squashcycle.
The bamboo plantings here at the Shack look great; they've really taken off this year, and at this rate a few culms should be flute-sized in just another couple of seasons. It'd take another three or four years for those culms to lignify, so our best case scenario might see the first fully homegrown romyb flute appearing in about 2011-2013.
Wow, it's strange and a little scary to cite dates so redolent of science fiction-- which will be here before we know it! Egad, 1984 was over twenty years ago: dude, what was once the distant dystopian future is now the dimly dystopian past! I can barely flail the buggy whip for this newfangled "computer" contraption, and who knows what's coming next?
Not to diss the recent past, since so many of our social and governmental functions have lately descended to dysfunctional depths unimaginable in 1984-- or was this so unimaginable? Apparently each human generation is equally insane, irrational and self-righteously deluded in its own fashion... After all, 1984 was published in 1949, and Orwell was off by a mere two decades or so-- which is pretty close, given the chaotic unpredictability of our mad socio-technological evo-devolution.
Whoa, what set all that off? We're supposed to be going all Kumbaya here, what with the Circle of Squash and homegrown flutes, not ranting pessimistically about dys and dat! So, in the short weeks to come let's all eat plenty of fresh berries, fruits, squash, corn, melons, tomatoes, peppers, etc., etc. in celebration of the season: the peak of growth in the temperate Northern Hemisphere.
Some of you may prefer to commemorate this season by venturing bravely outdoors to char the flesh of beasts on monstrous grilling contraptions which cost more than the total poundage of T-bones you'd ever be able to consume in a lifetime. Anyway, go for it if that's what floats your inner McYacht.
Back with flute stuff in a couple of days, after the celebratory Solar Squashcycle dust settles.
---r.
Posted by Romy
10:54 PM PST
July 12, 2007
Outta here
Incommunicado for the next four days, but we'll get back to a 5,000 wpm pace after returning. --r.
Posted by Romy
12:09 PM PST
July 8, 2007
Looks like that D major flute mentioned in the previous entry is sold-- someone's paying attention! Not to worry if you missed the opportunity: just check back daily and we'll have another one ready sometime in the next year or two.
But seriously, I've resolved to make more of those Irish-appropriate D flutes, and another two or three should be on the rack fairly soon. It's time to get over this aversion to leprechaun-music culture and take advantage of the constant demand from that crowd-- perhaps drinking a lot more Guinness would help with that! The innumerable fantastic microbrews available here in the Pacific Northwest are a luxury, and I seldom consider the imports nowadays. Most of those British Isles and German brews now taste stale and insipid in comparison to our native micros, but Guinness is an exception and does travel well due to its sturdy stout structure. OK, we hereby resolve to produce one new D Major flute for every two sixpacks of Guinness-- that should be about the right fuel ratio.
Also, I may compile a list of the brand-new flutes rolling off the assembly line over the next four days and post it here, in case anyone wants to snap one up in the last instant before the fair. If so, it'll probably appear tomorrow night or Tuesday, and there'll be a mere 24 to 48 hour window of opportunity. Stay tuned and we'll see about that... no promises.
Okay, back to the grind now; catch you tomorrow. --r.
Posted by Romy
01:27 PM PST
July 7, 2007
D Major
The Oregon Country Fair opens a week from today. It's the only remaining show on my yearly schedule which demands a substantial stock of flutes in order to make a presentable appearance, and preparations for this event have shouldered aside most other activities (such as blogging) for the last two weeks. It's oddly refreshing to discover that I still have the capacity to focus single-mindedly on production for days on end, since my difficulties in keeping up with internet-driven flute orders have often been bemoaned in this space.
So, why is it that I can bore relentlessly into a strenuous production schedule for instruments which have no guaranteed buyers while many long-deferred, concrete orders languish in limbo? Well, this is a proudly dysfunctional domain, you know...
For instance, one of the flutes emerging from the current frenzy is a notably superior D-Major model with an African Blackwood lip plate. I dimly remembered that *someone* had urgently requested just such an instrument a year or so ago, and duly dug through the email archives in search of that ancient entreaty.
Actually, it's amazing how many unrequited inquiries about D-major flutes -- the "default key" for Irish/Celtic music -- have arrived over the months and years. A search of the last two years' stale email yielded one likely prospect: although the wording of his message wasn't exactly as I remembered, this must be the guy who specifically wanted a great D major/African blackwood flute, right?
Must be the guy... a detailed 500 or 600-word email was duly dispatched to this individual, describing the long-awaited flute and exhorting its many merits...
*THIS EMAIL ADDRESS HAS PERMANENT FATAL ERRORS...*
Typical. So, does anyone out there want a super D major flute with African blackwood lip plate RIGHT NOW? You have about four days to speak up-- after which it's up to the neo-hippies of the Oregon Country Fair to claim it. It really is a remarkable flute, and you won't find me making such boasts very often. --r.
Posted by Romy
02:01 AM PST
July 1, 2007
Note
We're still up to the gills in bamboo dust here at the Complex, and a few observations about this manic process will appear in this space soon. Off to our hot bath now... --r.
Posted by Romy
11:29 PM PST
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